David M. Cupps was struck in the head and strangled, says the Vicksburg Police Department in
Mississippi.

Authorities say they believe that two Louisiana fugitives carjacked, kidnapped and killed the
53-year-old Sunbury man after he crossed paths with them in Mississippi.

Ricky Wedgeworth, 36, and Darian "Drake" Pierce, 33, escaped on March 4 from the Louisiana State
Police Headquarters Compound in Baton Rouge, where they were on a work detail, said the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation.

Wedgeworth was serving time for armed robbery, and Pierce was in prison for attempted
murder.

Cupps' body was discovered outside a motel in the Birmingham suburb of Bessemer, Ala., on
Wednesday.

Vicksburg police are investigating his death as a homicide. The Jefferson County, Ala.,
coroner's office has not released an official cause of death.

Cupps was last heard from when he talked to his wife by phone on Monday afternoon from
Vicksburg. He was a safety inspector for a company that designs and drills wells and had made the
Mississippi trip several times on a project, said Heather Ross, 31, his stepdaughter.

Cupps told his wife he was on his way to his motel, but he never registered and didn't return
home on a scheduled flight to Columbus on Tuesday afternoon, his family said.

The Louisiana fugitives were discovered driving Cupps' rental vehicle when they were pulled over
by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper on Tuesday night in Jackson, Tenn. The SUV had been reported
missing after Cupps failed to return it to the rental-car company.

Wedgeworth and Pierce jumped from the SUV and ran away.

The TBI is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the two men. Crime
Stoppers is also offering $1,000 for information that leads to their capture.